2 men sentenced in sexual abuse cases

Two men were sentenced yesterday in Carroll Circuit Court for separate incidents of sexually abusing juvenile relatives -- a Westminster boy in 1994, and a Hampstead girl last year.

The men are not being identified to protect the privacy of the child victims.

In the first case, a 51-year-old Manchester man was given a seven-year suspended sentence, placed on five years' probation and ordered to continue receiving psychological counseling and to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for five years.

He pleaded not guilty to child abuse in February, agreeing not to contest the prosecutor's version of what happened.

Prosecutors said the man molested a 9-year-old girl in July.

In the other case, a 50-year-old Finksburg man was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with a recommendation that he serve his term at Patuxent Institution in Jessup, where he can receive treatment and therapy.

He pleaded not guilty in February to a second-degree sexual offense, but agreed to accept the prosecutor's account of what happened.

Prosecutors said the man forced a boy, then 7 years old, to perform perverted sex acts between September 1994 and June 1995.

Three other abuse charges against the man were placed on the court's inactive docket.